Retro Ramblings
Staying Up All Night With Rhonda Shear
When I think back to being a quiet tween in the early nineties, trying to figure out where I fit in the world, a handful of things shaped me more …
Month: March 2026
Retro Ramblings
Quicksand Was the Childhood Threat That Never Showed Up
Growing up in the late ’80s, quicksand felt like a real problem. Not a theoretical danger. Not a remote possibility. A real problem. TV made it seem like every wooded …
Retro Ramblings
Coffee, Woodsmoke, and a Silver Ship in the Sky
Some mornings still smell like woodsmoke and childhood, pulling me back to slow Appalachian days when cartoons, coffee steam, and a silver ship on TV made the world feel bigger than the valley that raised me. …
Retro Ramblings
Nostalgia From a Five Dollar Chalupa
Paying over five dollars for a single Chalupa made me realize how far Taco Bell has drifted from the cheap, late‑night hangout it was in the nineties, when a few crumpled dollars could fuel an entire night. …
Retro Ramblings
When Mulkey Mania Was Better Than March Madness
Mulkey Mania felt like watching the ultimate underdogs shock the world, a pair of pale brothers scoring a win so unlikely it made every kid who loved the losers believe that sometimes the impossible really could happen. …
Retro Ramblings
RIP Dennis Condrey: The Rival I Learned to Respect
I grew up booing Dennis Condrey, but time revealed the master behind the menace. His craft shaped my wrestling childhood, and today I remember him with respect and real gratitude. …
Front Porch Philosophy
Waiting on Warm Weather
I always look forward to Spring, partly because I enjoy my gardening, watching some baseball, and being able to take walks on the trails around here, and partly because my …
Front Porch Philosophy
Growing Up With Rice and Milk
Cold mornings, a steaming pot of rice, and a pat of butter melting into a golden puddle are some of my earliest memories, the kind that remind me how a simple bowl of rice and milk could warm the house when the thermostat couldn’t. …
Retro Ramblings
The Pizza Hut Street Basketball Made Me Look Like a Doofus
Every March, when the brackets come out, I don’t think about buzzer‑beaters or star players. I think about that wild neon Pizza Hut street ball from 1993, the one I was sure would turn me into a basketball legend. …
Misadventures of Mickey Lee
Mickey Lee and the Cult of Pepsi Free
Pepsi Free wasn’t just my favorite soda. It was my childhood gospel. I was a one-boy evangelist preaching from vending machines and front yards like it was the future in a bright orange can. …